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Sunday, April 30, 2017

It is news when the President of the United States
lies. It is still news even if it is not
reported. So one has to delve deep
into the details to learn that the President told lies during his campaign
type appearance in Harrisburg.

He are some examples.

“I don’t think right now is
the best time to call China a currency manipulator,” Mr. Trump said, adding
that the news media had been wrong in saying that he had reversed a campaign
promise on that issue.

The fact that he did reverse his campaign promise, well the
video tape of that must be fake news.
And about the NYT coverage of the election

“They covered it so badly,”
he said of the presidential campaign, “that they felt they were forced to
apologize because their predictions were so bad.” The Times did not apologize
for its election coverage.

The wall, well the problem is Democrats, not the Republicans
who oppose it.

“If the Democrats knew what
the hell they were doing, they would approve it,” he said. “Obviously they
don’t mind the illegals pouring in, the drugs pouring in. They don’t mind.”

Yep, no truth there.
And about a Korean trade deal.

“It’s a horrible deal. It
was a Hillary Clinton disaster, a deal that should’ve never been made,” Mr.
Trump said. In fact, President George W. Bush negotiated the agreement with South Korea
in 2007, and President Barack Obama renegotiated it in 2010, which is
effectively what Mr. Trump is now proposing to do.

It is not clear how long this regime of lying can continue,
but it can last a long time if the headlines don’t trumpet it and the stories
just buy it.

The Republicans in the state legislature in Virginia did a good
thing. They passed a law that requires
insurers in that state to cover birth control for 12 months. Yes, you are reading this correctly,
Republicans are supporting common sense family planning.

The legislation was sponsored by Del. Eileen Filler-Corn
(D-Fairfax), who said it will help women avoid gaps in birth-control use. It
passed both chambers in the Republican-controlled legislature with large
bipartisan majorities.

Representatives
for health insurers questioned whether the law was necessary, noting that
current insurance policies allow people to get 90-day prescriptions and ask for
automatic refills.

Advocates
called the 12-month birth-control measure a “common-sense” measure that will
make it easier for women to stay on the medication.

They
cited studies that say having access to 12 months of birth-control pills could
reduce the rate of unintended pregnancies by 30 percent and decrease by 46
percent the odds of having an abortion.

A similar
bill failed to get out of committee in 2016. The difference this year was that
Filler-Corn personally lobbied Republicans, said Tarina Keene, executive
director of NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia.

So despite all evidence to the contrary Republicans can
govern responsibly in some situations.
Now if somebody will just explain that to Washington.

No More Wondering Why Trump's Syrian Policy Has No Policy, Strategy or Basis

Just Pure Reaction

Why would any President rely on military and foreign policy advice from someone who has absolutely zero training, background, education, experience of familiarity with military and foreign policy? Well if you are Donald Trump the only criteria in an adviser is that the person be unquestionably loyal to Donald Trump. And about the only person that meets that criteria is his daughter. So reports are coming out she influenced him to bomb Syria.

Ivanka Trump 'pushed for her father to bomb Syria'

First daughter's position on atrocity a 'significant influence in the Oval office'

so says the Independent of Britain.

One would think that there are competent people in government. But Ivanka Trump is a person who built a successful fashion line all by herself with the massive help of her name recognition and with her father's money and position. So naturally in an administration that has no competence whatsoever they would turn to a person who also has no competence whatsoever.

As for the fact that Trump's policy is now 180 degrees opposite of his previous policy, well don't ask about that.

Saturday, April 29, 2017

The bias here against Republicans, Conservatives and Donald
J. Trump is not prejudice, it is the result of well founded research and the
policies of those folks. They stand for
(1) a more polluted environment (2) less people covered with adequate health care insurance,
(3) socialism for the wealthy, (4) hypocrisy and lying in the furtherance of
their cause, (5) crippling public education etc etc etc.

But it is hard to be all bad all the time, so a diligent search
found this to praise about the President. It is his relationship with China. During the campaign Trump was highly critical
of China,
wanted to engage in a trade war with them and though he had no idea of what it
meant he was going to call them a currency manipulator. But once in his office Trump has seemed to
want to engage China in
positive relations, which is good because every day China becomes more and more the
economic, financial and military leader of the Asian part of the world. To be able to work with China
is a huge plus for America
and Trump seems to be pulling that off.

At least for now. Given
his irrationality Trump could easily ruin things and if he does history will
condemn him for it, assuming they can fit it in with the other
condemnations. But until that happens a
small celebration is in order for the administration acting like a real
government with the people’s welfare in mind in dealing with China.

As for the Democrats, they have been the good opposition,
making the best of a losing hand. But
they still need younger, more energetic leadership. They need unity. They need to have an alternative to
destroying health and to have programs for improving ACA. And
they need to have an ex-President who is not going around to the banks and
taking$400 k for a speech. Hilary did
that sort of thing, how did it work out for her?

And no one should worry, as soon as Trump does a stupid
thing this Forum will be back at him.
Should take no longer than 20 minutes.

Friday, April 28, 2017

Trump Lawyers: Pay No
Attention to Them and the Man Behind the Curtain; They are Meaningless

When the would be President signed an Executive Order
denying federal funds to so-called Sanctuary Cities, San Francisco went to
court. And a federal judge agreed that
the orders were un-constitutional. But
in a pretty powerful way.

The49-page rulingfocused largely on an all-too-familiar
theme for the young administration: the consequences of bragging and bluster by
Trump and top administration officials.

Just like
the judges who ruled on Trump’s travel ban, Orrick homed in on the vast
discrepancies between what government lawyers defending the sanctuary cities
order argued in court and what administration officials said about it in public.

Ok, no surprise here that Trump did something
un-constitutional. That happens
weekly. But the strategy his lawyers
took is truly bizarre.

According to Orrick, the government contended that the
order was merely an example of Trump using the “bully pulpit” to
“highlight a changed approach to immigration enforcement” — in essence,
something much more benign than what Trump and company had described.

The
argument was lost on the judge, who ridiculed the government’s position as
“schizophrenic.”

Ever since WWII the world has looked to nuclear power plants
as being a source of safe, low cost, pollution free power. We now know that it is not safe and we now
know that it is not low cost. It
turns out that trying to build a nuclear power plant can bankrupt an
international giant.

Japan’s
Toshiba Corp. purchased Westinghouse a while back to get into the nuclear plant
building industry. Now Westinghouse is
bankrupt. And the plants they are
building may not be completed.

“Westinghouse, the U.S.
nuclear unit of Japan's
Toshiba Corp., filed for bankruptcy protection last month, calling into
question the future of a number of multibillion-dollar nuclear projects,
including the South Carolina site and a
similar project at Plant Vogtle in eastern Georgia.

Such projects are rare.
Along with the two additional Westinghouse AP1000 reactors being constructed at
Plant Vogtle, the South Carolina reactors are
the first of their kind to be built in the U.S.

SCANA's electric utility
component, South Carolina Electric & Gas Co., owns 55 percent of the plant.
For years, its customers have funded the reactor project through a series of
rate hikes approved by state regulators. The state-owned utility Santee Cooper
owns the other 45 percent, and it's unknown how ratepayers will be impacted by
the Westinghouse bankruptcy.

Santee Cooper already has
increased rates by 3.7 percent in both 2016 and this year to help pay for the new
nuclear units.

SCE&G has raised
electric prices on its customers nearly 20 percent since 2009 to pay for the
project, which is behind schedule and over the original projected cost.”

Find the White Elephant in This Picture

With solar and wind coming on strong the inability to bring
nuclear plants on line on time and on budget just means they cannot be the
future. De-regulating the nuclear
industry won’t help.

The
Best and the Brightest – Trump was going to get only the top people into
his government. So far top people
are clueless son-in-law and fashion designer daughter. Lots of openings left, experience,
education, training not required.

U. S.
Attorney’s Fired – No replacement in place, law and order party has little
law, no order.

Muslim
Ban – Trump keeps forgetting about that Constitution thingee

Turkey
– President congratulate Turkish President for creating a dictatorial
Muslim country – uh, isn’t that what he opposed?

Thursday, April 27, 2017

Who Would You Believe – A Lying Sack of Doodoo (in honor of
GHWB) or the Former Republican Head of the Congressional Budget Office?

It’s hard not to laugh at the Trump so-called tax plan. Months to put something together and all they
can come up with is a one page mess. No
specifics, no numbers, just a pandering to the billionaire class. And no, the complaints are not partisan
bickering, here’s what Douglas Holtz-Eakina
sometimes serious Republican economist
has to say.

First of all on the lack of specificity.

Proposing trillions of dollars in tax cuts
and then casually asserting that such a plan would “pay for itself with growth,” as Treasury
Secretary Steven Mnuchin said, is detached from empirical reality. A real
tax-reform plan would include specifics on how to broaden the tax base — not
leave that hard work to Congress. A responsible tax plan would not ignore the
threat of increasing a national debt that is already on an unsustainable course.

And the old idea that the tax cuts would pay for themselves,
(see Reagan and Bush fils for example),

But never has a dynamically scored analysis
concluded that a proposal would “pay for itself with growth,” and no serious
economist would make such a claim. At best, according to the prevailing
consensus, the positive feedback effect from tax cuts would recoup in the range
of 25 to 35 percent of the cost.

But of course given how Republicans stifle, ignore or just
move too fast to get data, as they seem to be doing with health care reform the
real world may not make much difference. They live in their own world where
budgets are magically balanced and large tax cuts for the ultra wealthy trickle
down and trickle all over working people.

Trump willing to Delay border wall push

President Donald Trump signaled Monday he would be comfortable delaying a fight over a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border until September, possibly averting a government shutdown looming around his 100th day in office.

Speaking to conservative news outlets during a reception at the White House, Trump did not give up on his plan to get Congress to fund the wall, a key promise of his 2016 campaign. But he said he would accept a delay of that fight until the fall, conservative reporters who were present said on Twitter.

Wednesday, April 26, 2017

The Republicans who control government are so eager, so
desperate, so callous on health care that they are prepared
to vote on a bill that they have not seen and know nothing about.

There is now discussion on
the Hill and in the White House about a health care vote this Friday. The House
whip team is busy counting moderate votes and gauging support within the
caucus, and there should be a clearer picture of where things stand tonight.

Trump’s daughter has
not said that the key to her success in rising from a business woman who
was largely handed everything in life to a totally amateurish advisor to
Presidents lies in what she wears. So
she will soon produce a new clothing line guaranteed to allow the wearer to
succeed at any job no matter how lacking in qualifications that person is, as
long as, of course, that person’s father hands them everything on a silver
platters.

Trump has stated that
he wants the top tax rates on organizations like partnerships to drop from
about 40% to 15%. It is just a
coincidence that partnerships are likely the vehicle of choice for Trumps
investments and that the tax cut, if enacted will given him tax reductions in
the millions. Of course that assumes he
actually pays taxes.

Former Trump national
security advisor Michael Flynn appears to have violated federal law and if
so may be headed for a big fine or jail.
Trump has said he hardly knows the guy and that those thousands of
photos of him with Flynn were all photo-shopped by North Korea.

The Theory that
bullies back down when threatened by principled people willing to stand up
to them was reinforced when the President quickly back down from his insistence
that funds for the border wall be including the funding law that is necessary
to keep the government open through September.
Dems could accommodate the President by authorizing the spending once Mexico has
signed an ironclad agreement to pay for the wall. Yep, just holding Trumpie to his campaign
promise.

The NFL Draft is
coming up and as usual all those folks having trouble getting to sleep are
advised to put down the pills and just watch for a few minutes. Guaranteed to put you to rest.

Canada is planning to respond to the U. S. attempt to put a 20% tax on Canadian
lumber exports to the U. S.
by adding 20 more NHL teams based in the U. S.
The nation is expected to quickly back down in response.

Trump has assembled a
team of experts to try and find an accomplishment for his first 100 days other
than getting a Republican Supreme Court Justice confirmed by a Republican Senate
by changing the rules. It is rumored
that actress Viola Davis will star in a min-series, How to Get Away With
Stealing a Supreme Court Justice” Famed
bank robber Willie Sutton is being mentioned to play Mitch McConnell role.

In the Bush fils administration a conservative supply side
economist named Greg Mankiw was in vogue.
He went out of vogue when it became apparent he did not know what he was
talking about. Now he is demonstrating
that again, with
a tax policy piece in the NYT. First
there is this.

INCOME VS.
CONSUMPTIONMany
economists have arguedthat
taxes should be levied based on consumption rather than income. Consumption
taxes would do less to discourage saving and investment and would thus be more
favorable to economic growth. In addition, consumption taxes are arguably
fairer: They tax the standard of living people enjoy rather than the value of
what they produce.

Wow, amazing just how much ignorance can be packed in that
one paragraph.

First of all the idea that many economists believe taxes
should be on consumption is un-quantified and does not reflect opinion that
consumption taxes restrict demand, which is why governments tax cigarettes and
alcohol. And the idea that consumption
taxes do more to stimulate investment and growth is just plain wrong, because
again, they reduce demand which is the driver of investment and growth.

But the real whopper is this idea that consumption taxes are
fairer. No they are not. Consumption taxes like sales taxes are
regressive, which is why many states exempt or reduce sales taxes on food or
medicine. The reason taxes on things
like entertainment are so high is to make sales taxes less regressive. They don’t tax the standard of living, as
every millionaire knows. And income
taxes don’t tax the value of what people produce, they tax the profit that
firms make and income taxes fit the general requirement of taxes. Income taxes are based on an ability to pay
and on value received from government services.

But the real illustration of the lack of understanding is
this.

The House plan moves toward
a consumption tax by allowing businesses to deduct their investment spending
immediately, rather than depreciating it slowly over time. By exempting the
income that businesses reinvest, the government would essentially be taxing
consumed profits.

See all that happens with immediately expensing investment
rather than depreciating it is timing.
If a company invests $10 million in equipment it gets to deduct that $10
million before computing its taxes. With
depreciation that deduction is spread over time, much of it coming in the first
year. With expensing all of it comes in
the first year. So with expensing a company’s
tax bill goes down, then goes up as it has no more tax depreciation. The only benefit is what economics calls ‘the
time value of money’, which in a low interest rate environment is minimal. The net effect of the policy, nothing, nada,
no change in behavior. Just an example
of stupidity.

Welfare for the Very Rich; Take Away Health Care for the
Lower Income Folks

Football used to be a fun game. Nowadays it is a cruel business, from high
school to the pro’s. And the greediest,
the meanest, the most insensitive of all are the NFL owners.

Consider the case of the Washington team, whose nickname is defended
as heritage, much the same way that flying the Confederate flag is defended as
heritage instead of the racial bias it represents. The team owner, a nasty man named Daniel
Snyder refuses to even consider changing the names, much as he refuses to
competently manage the team.

But that’s not the worst.
See Snyder is a billionaire and here’s
a WaPo story about him, his team president and their efforts to ultimately
get tens of millions of government money for a new stadium even though the
current one is not very old.

How rich is Snyder, well there is this.

Whether it’s built in Northern Virginia, on
the site of RFK Stadium in the District or remains in Maryland, the Redskins’
next stadium will be Snyder’s legacy — not the hand-me-down venue he acquired
from the estate of the late Jack Kent Cooke. For Snyder, it would be an opulent
monument to his clout and stature as an NFL owner — an owner whose team is
worth $2.95 billion, according to Forbes magazine’s September 2016 valuation,
nearly four times the $800 million he paid for it in 1999.

Here is a billionaire who regards his legacy as building a
new football stadium, not curing cancer, not educating children, not helping
the environment or any other charitable causes.
And yes you are reading that correctly, his team is worth about $3
billion.

So one would think a person that rich would not need
government welfare and handouts. One
would be wrong. The team president Bruce
Allen is a glad handing beggar of public funds.

he has forged relationships with
Washington-area politicians, particularly in Virginia,
which led to a lucrative, eight-year deal to hold training camp in Richmond each summer
beginning in 2013. The Redskins in 2012 also received a $4 million grant
from the state and $6 million from the Virginia State Lottery toward an
expansion and renovation of the team’s headquarters in Ashburn.

Yes, you are reading that correctly. Virginia
has given, and ‘given’ is the right this billionaire tens of millions of
dollars. Thought lottery was to pay for
things like education, you thought wrong.

The problem with all of this is not just that it’s wrong, it’s
that politicians and billionaires see no reason why it is wrong. And this is not partisan politics, Virginia’s Democratic
governor wants to help the team build the multi-billion dollar stadium.

No doubt, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D)
would love the distinction of landing the new stadium for his state before his
term ends in January 2018. A tireless dealmaker and a voluble promoter of his
adopted home state, McAuliffe has a close relationship with Snyder and
describes Allen as “a very straight shooter.”

The irony, even if taxpayers pick up a large portion of the
bill they still cannot sit at the table, the price of tickets being so high
those who pay for luxury will have to sit in the back of the bus and watch the
game on TV.

So, need an example of what’s horribly wrong in the nation,
look no further than Daniel Snyder, Bruce Allen, Terry McAuliffe and the
racially offensive Washington
football team.

Coming this week is a need to pass a fubnding bill for the rest of FY 2017 for the federal government. Republicans in Congress agree with Democrats that a clean bill should emerge. Donnie wants funding for his rediculous wall. And incredibly here's what the budget director is saying.In his interview with the Journal, Mr. Mulvaney said “elections have to have consequences” and, like former President Barack Obama, Mr. Trump is “entitled to have some of his priorities funded.”Now the reason this is so mind boggling involves health care, which of course was Mr. Obama's top priority. Right now Republicans are refusing to pay insurers monies owed them by law. and have actually sued to stop payments. If they prevail health care for millions will collapse. So the idea that Mr. Obama was entitled to have his priority funded is such a joke statement by Republicans that we wonder how they can say it with a straight face. But of course hypocrisy is a requirement for the GOP leaders these days. Without it they are not true to themselves.

‘A Shortage of Coffins’ After Taliban Slaughter Unarmed Soldiers

KABUL, Afghanistan — They looked like Afghan Army soldiers returning from the front lines, carrying the bodies of wounded comrades as part of the ruse.

Dressed in military uniforms, a squad of 10 Taliban militants drove in two army Ford Ranger trucks past seven checkpoints. They arrived inside northern Afghanistan’s largest military installation just as hundreds, perhaps thousands, of unarmed soldiers were emerging from Friday Prayers and preparing for lunch.

For the next five hours, the militants went on a rampage, killing at least 140 soldiers and officers in what is emerging as the single deadliest known attack on an Afghan military base in the country’s 16-year war. Some assailants blew themselves up among the soldiers fleeing for their lives, according to survivors, witnesses and officials.

No, the U. S. cannot impose its will on a country a million miles away when there are thugs and murderers who care nothing of human life. When will we learn?

Monday, April 24, 2017

One of the many things conservatives hate is tuition aid
(aid, not loans) for low and middle income families. They believe that if a student cannot afford
college it’s because that student was not smart enough to pick a family to be
born into that could afford college. So
it comes as no surprise conservative NYT columnist David Brooks would hate the
new New YorkState provisions for tuition free
education as state colleges. But the
surprise is just how
stupid and ridiculous his arguments are. Consider this.

First,
the law is regressive. . . . The higher
up the income scale you go, until the ceiling, the more you benefit.

No, regressive means the lower the income the less the
benefit. In this case because tuition is
fixed it is a large percentage of income the lower the income. So it is progressive. One would think this basic fact is within the
purview of Brooks’ intellect.

it
doesn’t make a dent in reducing the non-tuition fees, like living expenses,
textbooks and travel,

Well no, but that just means it’s incomplete,
not faulty.

it
doesn’t cover students who don’t go to school full time and don’t complete in
four years

Well no, but that just means it’s incomplete,
not faulty. Do we have to repeat this?

it
demotivates (sic) students. Research has shown that students who have to work
to pay some college costs, even if only small expenses, are more spurred to
work hard and graduate.

Uh, does Brooks realize his first point contradicts this
point. How can he be this dense?

Cuomo’s
law threatens to destroy some of New
York’s private colleges. . .

These
private colleges tend to have smaller classes, they tend to do a better job of
graduating their students and they tend to spend heavily to subsidize poorer
students.

No, it doesn’t.
Private schools are for the most part doing just fine even though they
charge 8 to 10 times what New York
state schools charge. They may do better with graduating students because they
are more selective, and they spend heavily to subsidize poorer students because
they have to, Low income students cannot
pay $40,000 tuition costs. And guess how
much more debt students at private schools have, just guess. Sorry you are too low.

over
the long term the law could hurt the quality of New York’s state system. Right now those
schools rely on tuition to help fund programs. If New York moves more toward a purely publicly
funded model, it may suffer from the slow decay that has hurt many state
systems. State budgets are perpetually challenged by rising entitlement
spending. Education gets squeezed.

Ah yes, the long
term. Actually free tuition will put
more, not less pressure on the state to have adequate funding for state
colleges.

the
law will hurt its recipients’ future earnings. Students who receive free
tuition for four years have to remain in New YorkState
for four years after graduating, or pay the money back. This means they won’t
be able to seize out-of-state opportunities during the crucial years when their
career track is being formed. They’ll be trapped in a state with one really
expensive city, and other regions where good jobs are scarce.

Gosh, asking students to stay in the state that paid their
tuition, what a terrible thing!! C’mon,
get real. And as far as the regions
outside the City Mr. Brooks displays the usual New York city bias towards the rest of the
state. Buffalo,
Syracuse, Rochester,
Albany and
other cities are coming back, they have low cost living and are growing and
adding jobs. Cuomo is directly money to
them. Their future is bright.

"O'Reilly, 67, who recently signed a new multi-year contract worth more than $20 million a year, has been on vacation and was scheduled to return to the air Monday. "It is tremendously disheartening that we part ways due to completely unfounded claims. But that is the unfortunate reality many of us in the public eye must live with today," he said in a statement released Thursday afternoon."

Simple Test - If you believe him would you let him be alone with your daughter?
Didn't think so

Bill would be a lot more credible if he would have fought the charges. But cutting and running is a conservative trait, just ask his buddy Donnie who just settled Trump U fraud charges. And speaking of Donnie, doesn't everyone wonder why he endorsed he behaviour of a predator. Oh, it's because in his mind there is nothing wrong.

In order to divert attention from his failing policies Trump blamed Obama for the problems in Syria and claims he is doing what
Obama should have done. Does he no know
that history keeps a record of these things?
Here’s what really happened, Trump lies
be damned. First what Trumper is
saying now.

“What I did should have been done by the
Obama administration a long time before I did it, and you would have had a much
better — I think Syria would be a lot better off right now than it has been,”
Trump said during an interview with Fox Business Network's Maria
Bartiromo that aired Wednesday morning. “He didn't do it. I don't know what
happened, but he didn't do it....

But his past is still out there.

In June 2013, in the wake of a deadly
chemical weapons attack in the Damascus
suburbs, Trump repeatedly praised President Barack Obama for not taking
military action. In a tweet on June 15, 2013, Trump wrote: “We should stay the
hell out of Syria,
the 'rebels' are just as bad as the current regime. WHAT WILL WE GET FOR OUR
LIVES AND $ BILLIONS? ZERO.” Later that summer, Trump repeatedly said Obama
should seek congressional approval before taking action. In September 2013,
Trump tweeted: “The only reason President Obama wants to attack Syria is to
save face over his very dumb RED LINE statement. Do NOT attack Syria, fix U.S.A.” On the campaign trail,
Trump continued to oppose any involvement in Syria and accused Democrat Hillary
Clinton and some of his Republican opponents of wanting to start World War III.

Why oh why does the media allow this man to get away
with this? Why does anyone believe
anything he says? Why is this man not
already tossed into the ashcan of history

Sunday, April 23, 2017

Aaron
Carroll presents the results of studies that compared the death rates of
individuals with cystic fibrosis in the United
States with those with the disease in Canada. This horrific disease often finds people literally
choking to death on their own organ secretions.

“Arecent study published in Annals of Internal Medicineused the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis
Registry and the United States Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Patient Registry to
determine how patients fared between 1990 and 2013. Researchers compared the
longevity results in the two countries, and controlled for a number of factors,
including age, sex, genotype, pancreatic status and more.

Over time, they found,
the median life span for patients increased. But it increased faster in Canada. Between
2009 and 2013, the median life span was 40.6 years in the United States versus 50.9 in Canada."

So what might be going on here? Well there is this.

"Compared with patients in the United States who had private insurance
coverage, patients in Canada
had a similar risk of early death. Compared with patients who had public
insurance like Medicaid, Canadians with cystic fibrosis had a 44 percent lower
risk of early death. And compared with Americans who were uninsured, Canadians
had a 77 percent lower risk of early death.”

Anumber of factorscould be at play. Medications for
cystic fibrosis can be expensive, and patients have to take many every day.
About45 percent of American patientswith cystic fibrosis receive some form
of Medicaid, which can limit the medications patients can get, the providers
they can see and the therapies that are covered. For the uninsured, it can be
even worse. Insurance, as well as the cost of care,remains a significant concernfor people with cystic fibrosis."

Yes, studies like these cannot isolate all of the
variables. So this evidence, not proof.
But it is pretty strong evidence and one wonders what the ‘holier than thou’
Speaker of the House Paul Ryan would say.
Well he probably would not say anything cause he don’t need fact based
policy, his is faith based policy. But if
he were aware of the info he would probably rejoice for those uninsured who
were able to exercise their God given freedom to die earlier than they had to.

“I really am amazed that a judge sitting on an island in the Pacific can issue an order that stops the President of the United States from what appears to be clearly his statutory and Constitutional power.”

— Attorney General Jeff Sessions, quoted by CNN, criticizing a federal judge in Hawaii that has blocked President Trump’s travel ban.

Ok, think of the things wrong with this. First of all it denies that Hawaii is part of the United States, which it has been since the 1950's. Well Sessions is from Alabama which explains why he has trouble with understanding what is part of the United States.

And gee, you would think a person who has been Senator and is now head of the Justice Department would know about the authority of Federal Judges. But maybe not, after all this is Beauregard Sessions, KKK wannabe. But yes Mr. Too-Bigotred-to-be-a- Federal Judge Sessions, the judges can stop even a President. Don't like it, go to Russia or Iran, your ideology would be very welcome there.

Thursday, April 20, 2017

C'mon - Once You Found Out it Wasn't a Serious Wound You Did Chuckle, Didn't You

We all felt a bit better after learning that the NRA staffer who shot himself is okay. Nobody wants anyone badly injured or killed from an accidental gunshot. But then we really felt good about the publicity, you know the kind that makes the NRA look like the fools they portray themselves in the media.

Meanwhile, the NRA has hosted seminars in which speakers encourage gun owners to store firearms in children’s bedrooms — despite that fact that children are often involved in unintentional shootings. According to data collected by gun safety group Everytown, at least 247 people were accidentally shot by children in 2016, and at least 58 have occurred so far this year."

As for the NRA, anyone who says this deserves to be, well not shot, but certainly declared certifiable.

"Rob Pincus, who owns the popular firearm instruction company I.C.E. Training, paced across a conference room stage as he repeatedly warned against the threat of violent home invasions. After establishing that filling one’s home with weapons is the only solution, he then recommended that gun owners store firearms in their kids’ rooms for easy access."